Chance - He is a great reader and I require him to read one fiction book and one non-fiction book every school day.  He usually reads for either 15 minutes in each or one chapter each, depending on the type of book.  Several of the books he's chosen I have already read, so when he narrates to me what he's just read I know if he's comprehending.  His selections for non-fiction this year have usually been adventure type books, such as World Wars I and II, Usborne's True Adventure Stories, and several of the Usborne internet linked history books.  I haven't required the book reports as much this year, I just have him give me a narrative of them and that way I can really tell what he's learned from it.  The fiction books he's read this year include several series' usually from Scholastic.  He's enjoyed ones that involve danger, kidnapping, horror, and books that have been made into movies like "Hoot" and "Holes."  I love listening to him compare the book and movie versions, even he admits that the books are usually much better.

Spencer - He is still struggling with his reading skills.  They are vastly improved over last year, but still not what would be considered "grade level."  He did some review of the last 5 or so lessons in "Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons" and that did boost his confidence somewhat.  He started the year reading mostly level one easy readers, and slowly moved to level two.  He tends to really fight me when it comes to reading time, so lately I've just been requiring some actual reading lessons instead of the extra books.  We've been working with "McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader"  and "Phonics Pathways."  He is really getting pretty good finally.  The coding of the words in the beginning of the McGuffey lesson tends to distract and confuse him, he does seem to do better at memorizing the whole word instead of sounding it out.  Of course, that sometimes means he tries using the wrong word because he's just looking at the beginning, but I catch him and make him back up.  Usually we go over the reading lessons twice at a time, the first time he really struggles and is pretty slow, the second time he has more confidence and doesn't struggle near as much.  I have noticed that he is finally reading other things for himself, such as video game prompts, website addresses, street signs, and other common things.  He was tested earlier in the school year and he did require reading glasses, so that has helped also although he doesn't wear them all the time.

Lindsey - This has been the year for Lindsey to just click with reading.  She started off the year reading the level one books and just ate through them and was through the levels two and three before Christmas.  We were making posters for all the books they read and we had to quit with hers because we couldn't get them written down as fast as she'd read them.  She had a set of Mennonite first grade readers and grew bored with them after a few stories and asked me (her own idea) if she could read the last story in the last book in the set could she move on to something else?  I said sure, and she did it without messing up once.  She can figure out unfamiliar words by using context clues and reads everything she can.  She gets chapter books designed for children in the upper elementary grades and will sit down and read through them in no time at all.  I don't know for sure what grade level she is reading on, but I know it is far above the first grade.  It would take her longer to write the book reports than it does for her to read the books themselves, so I also have her narrate what the books are about.